Mars City Shadowrun

Dawn of the Artifacts: Dusk Part 3

An auction and a chase

The team, having secured their auction invitations, head back to Lagos with Jane in tow. They clean up at the hotel, pick up their new suits, and head to the auction. LS does some research on the map they are hoping to aquire, and gets some info from Jane’s mystery employers and some more from The Order of St. George. The info only makes the team more curious, and makes Jane seem to want it more. They hire two fanboats as possible escape routes across the lagoon towards the airport if they win.

The auction site is in the Global Sandstorm building on Lagos Island, with security provided by Adegoke’s palace guards and priests. The map sells to a lone bidder (who outbids both Jane and the Aztechnology rep), who the team id’s as Medjay, whose name they overheard while snooping on Samriel Lockwood at Adegoke’s palace. Jane tells them to get down to the parking garage and intercept him: they must acquire the map. However, they shouldn’t do any fighting under the watchful eye of island security, so they should tail him to the mainland.

However, Medjay seems to have planned well also, and leaves the car he arrived in in the garage. He exits via the building’s lobby, hops in an okada out front, and speeds towards the bridge. TY, realizing it’s been a while, pulls out of the parking garage and sees him in the distance, while the Azzie’s and another team also try to catch up. TY takes the car as far as he can before getting stuck in traffic near the bridge, and then Atlas and Zuberi chase Medjay on foot while TY, LS, and Rooster head for one of their rented boats.

Zuberi wings Medjay with a rock, slowing him enough for Atlas to use his absurd speed to close the distance. Medjay hops on another waiting okada, and Atlas latches on with his grappling hook, being pulled along with Medjay shoots at him with a pistol. LS sends a spirit up to convince the okada driver to bail, which he does. The okada crashes, and Atlas takes the opportunity to charge. He sweepkicks Medjay, who barely hops out of the way, and turns and flee towards Surelere, while calling out to some nearby area boys in Yoruba. The orks bring their AK’s up on Atlas, who dives over the bridge side, clinging on with his gecko gloves.

Meanwhile, Zuberi has jumped into the lagoon and joined the boat crew (happily not spending much time in the sickening, sludgy water), and they have reached the far bank, catching up to Atlas. They notice an Azzie chopper fly overhead towards the city, as well as the other team (the russian orks) in another fanboat to the North. LS blasts them with an acid wave, which their mage seems to largely counter, though they all take some damage as they are confined in a small craft and can’t very well dodge. They are headed towards land, in the area of Lagos City or perhaps Shomolo, as they return fire.

The team dodges around the Area Boys, while also trying to avoid grenades launched by the team to the north. They hire some okadas, and pay extra for rapid transit, and race up the highway towards the north edge of Surelere, hoping to intercept Medjay. TY purchases a fast surveillance drone over ’link from Kayin, who grossly overcharges, but promises quick delivery. LS follows Medjay and the map with his watcher spirits, helping the team estimate his progress until the new drone closes.

They have a highway shootout with an armored drone, and manage to defeat it, although Atlas sufferes significant injury and crashes on kamikaze. He heads for the airport separately while the rest of the team moves to intercept Medjay. They get in a shootout in a large street market with the other boat team, and manage to race past them due to the intervention of an unseen sniper. They encounter Medjay, and convince him to trade the map for his life, after Zuberi sinks his escape vehicle into the mud. They also find out that he is in the employ of the great dragon Celedyr, and seems to know who they work for, even though they don’t. He leaves, and they race for the airport with the map.

They encounter the Azzie chopper (now flying unmarked), which opens up on them with mounted guns, but seems to be carefully targeting the runners only, trying to avoid damaging the map no doubt. LS summons Baelor into the chopper, where he distracts the crew long enough for the team to reach the airport. TY has managed (through Kayin again) to bribe some of the local Area Boys to protect them once they are there, and they hold up their end, preventing the chopper from closing with a barrage of AK fire. They reach the plane, where TY is forced to pay an exit tax by another group of Area Boys (apparently the team has a reputation for handing out money by now) and they take off. The chopper tries to cut them off, but Innocent puts the plane in a steep ascent and loses them, as Zuberi wards the craft with deflection.

Jane and LS provide medical care for Atlas, who is going through a series of cascading crashes from his massive stimpatch abuse, and stabilize him just short of death. The plane safely reaches Nyamkopon, Asamando, and the team negotiates final payment with Jane, garnering a hefty sum. They hand over the map and she hops in a waiting limo, in which they catch a glimpse of a startlingly old-looking elf man (in that he has wrinkles at all!). TY also calls around and finds out that Jane has a good rep in the shadows, and is apparently a former runner herself. She tells them she will contact LS if she needs the group’s services in the future.

The team takes the provided car service back to Atlas’ fancy hotel (or the hospital) and plans some much needed shopping and R&R.